O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaubles

One of the prettiest "over the top" tree toppers at the Festival of Trees.

Back to the forest –the Enchanted Forest and the bedazzled and bedecked Christmas trees at the Le Bonheur Twig’s Festival of Trees located at the Pink Palace.

People have keenly developed opinions about Christmas trees that are almost codified in their structure and ideological in their espousal. People who SAY they don’t care about Christmas trees, surely do have strong beliefs about them, which always says to me, “Oh yeah, you care alright!”

There are notions about when to put them up, what kind they should be, whether they should be amongst the living or the fake, and on and on. I’ve even found some folks who seem to have a real antipathy toward the Tannenbaum Nation. Sheeesh!

The theme of the tree topper was repeated under the tree.

My mama will tell anyone who asks, and anyone who does not ask, that I have “always loved pretty.” This is true. Even when I was a child, I loved the dew because I imagined the dew drops were millions of sparkling diamonds scattered over the Bermuda grass that grew at the side of our house where the septic field was. A child with a lot of time on her hands, I also noted that of all the various grasses and ground covers, Bermuda grass, with its fragile thin blades, makes the best setting for diamond dew drops. In case you want a field of diamonds in your own back yard.

Candy pandemonium reigns on the branches of the "Sugar and Spice" tree.

Christmas trees, too, should be chosen according to what sort of treasures you choose to hang upon their branches. That’s if you have a choice, but trees come to us like life and family members, and you just have to adapt to their idiosyncrasies.

This is something that you can glean from a walk through the Festival of Trees. The ones that look the best followed the lines of the tree–or as in my case, sort of re-shaped the tree through the addition of additional materials.

Mr. Wu put up his Christmas tree at the Royal Panda on Thanksgiving Day. That is his tradition. Like Mr. Wu, it is a very orderly tree, lovely but not given to flamboyance, its ornaments placed with care so that each one is observable and able to be enjoyed both by itself and at the same time, admired as a part of the whole. In other words, a lot like Mr. Wu and his cuisine.

Titled "Sugar and Spice", this tree created by the cheerleaders of St. Benedict at Auburndale picked up an honorable mention and is sponsored by Belz Enterprises.